Mini Garden #1: In the Forest

As promised, I spent all day Monday making mini gardens.  Made three of them, in fact.  Since it takes three times as long to photograph, develop photographs, and write a post at it takes to make a garden, I'll be showing them over the course of the next week or so.  At first I thought it would be fun to show them on consecutive days, but that wouldn't leave much time for anything else.

So here's the first one, named In the Forest.

New purchases for this were the coconut fiber planter, moss, all the plants except for the pine tree, and the chair that the cat is sitting on.

The big gorpy saucer wasn't in my original (not very well thought-out plan).  I started with a much smaller clear plastic one, nice and unobtrusive.  After I got the plants in and started watering, the water came out the sides.  Not fair!  I only wanted it to come out the bottom.  Since I was creating this project on my sewing room table in a room with a carpet, the water flow was a minor disaster.  After throwing down some paper towels, I literally ran out to the garage and grabbed the largest saucer I could find. 

I attached an air plant to the trellis, adding some pretty color.  I've never seen an air plant bloom before, and they tell me it will continue to do so for another few months.

I used ribbon to tie it on, because they told me to submerge it in room-temperature water for 10 minutes, once a week.  They said people underestimate how much misting to do, so the dunk method is preferable.

So let's get in here and root around, shall we?

These cute little pigs were a gift from a friend.  They're walking on handmade ceramic tiles I bought at an art fair many years ago.  On the left and right are two different kinds of moss.

The little pigs are following a larger pig, who is following directions from the cat. 

More moss is shown here, along with the other two plants that are new:  white Hypoestes and a shiny thing that I don't know the name of.

The cat was the slider on a bola that I bought at a garage sale a few years ago.  The chair is sitting on a stone patio - really a coaster.

One that almost got away.

A view from the back.

What's that nestled in the V of the folding screen?

It's Fancy Fur Girl.  This is what the runaway pig was investigating - you can see the farmer behind her.

I bought three different versions of these fobs at Jo-Ann Fabrics earlier this year, with no idea what to do with them.  I was really hoping that the fur on her was fake, but based on the interest that our dog showed, I'm afraid it might be from a real animal.